1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to communications over a wide area network and, more particularly, to telecommunications.
2. Background of the Invention
Multi-site land mobile radio systems are well known. They are primarily utilized to provide emergency communications to police officers, fire fighters and other emergency responders. These systems typically utilize leased communication lines to interconnect radio repeater sites with a central call control server. The recurring costs of the leased communication lines, as well as the capital investment required for the radio repeater sites and specialized call control server, result in relatively high system costs. Accordingly, these systems are typically exclusively owned and operated by governmental agencies.
Professional and commercial entities, such as retail chains, school systems and construction companies, also may benefit from the use of multi-site land mobile radio systems but, due to the recurring costs and the required capital investment, generally do not deploy such systems. Indeed, companies who operate over large geographic areas or in different regions may require hundreds or even thousands of radio repeater sites to implement a suitable multi-site land mobile radio system. Moreover, such a system would require multiple central call servers, which themselves would need to be connected over leased lines, thus creating significant additional operational expenses.